New article of manufacture for use as an insecticide and method of making



Patented June 1, 1943 NEW ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR USE AS AN MAKINGINSECTICIDE AND METHOD OF Harold E. Jennings, Chicago, Ill., and John M.

Hutzel, Columbus, Ohio, assignors to Smithereen Company, Chicago, 111.,a corporation of Illinois No Drawing. Application August 12, 1940,Serial No. 352,270

6 Claims.

It is the object of this invention to provide means and a method ofcontrol of roaches and similar insects; and to provide a new article ofmanufacture and method of making which can be used for this purpose.

Heretofore in the art powdered poisons have been applied in various waysto places frequented by roaches; i. e., by shaking it from a container,by blowing the material with bellows or rubber bulb applicators and byhand or power clusters. Any of these forms of application hasobjectionable features incident to the raising of a dust of poisonousmaterial, which may injure the operator, contaminate food or kitchenutensils and leave an unsightly deposit on the premises. Furthermore, itis extremely difficult to get the material limited to-the exact areawhere the roaches can be reached with the material without spreading itover many other areas that are not desired to be covered with material.

It is the object of this invention to provide a.

stick or other formed piece of material which is soft enough toleave aheavy deposit of material on a wall surface to thereby secure a quick,even and neat application of the material.

It is a further object to provide such a stick that will mark bothsmooth and rough surfaces, leaving enough of the material, inrelativelydry, powdered condition, to get on the tarsi of the roaches.

It is a further object of this invention to provide the solid mass Ofmaterial in the form of a stick, cake, etc. so that it will not break,flake or get on the hands of the user and so that it will be retained inthe form desired until the pressure necessary to cause the material toadhere to a surface is applied whereupon the material will be depositedon a. smooth or rough surface and will adhere to the surface, while atthe same time being in a sufficiently dry, powdered condition to get onthe tarsi of the insects.

It is an object to provide sodium fluoride or its equivalent, in stickform, soft enough in the core to mark both smooth and rugh surfaces andcoated with lacquer or its equiva1ent, to hold it in stick, cake, etc.form.

It is a further object to provide the sodium fluoride with a binder oflubricating oil, or its equivalent, so as to cause the dust to adhere toboth smooth and rough surfaces and at the same time be in powdered formso that as the roaches run over it, they pick it up on their tarsi andingest it in their mouth parts upon cleaning their tarsi.

In detail, our invention can be practiced in a variety of ways by whichthe following are typical:

Example I In order to produce a flrm stick, soft enough in the core tomark both smooth and rough surfaces, we mix grams of sodium fluoride and26 cc. of water. This mixture is pressed in the desired form such as astick, cake, etc. The moist body so formed is then allowed to dry and -Awide variety of lacquers may be employed even including latex solutionand the like. This coating strengthens the stick, protects theapplicators hands and readily wears down without obstructing the depositof the powder.

Example II We have found that mixtures of sodium fluoride andlubricating oil are in some instances more effective as a powder thansodium fluoride alone; for example, a powder containing six per cent byweight 30 S. A. E. motor oil. Thereafter, if desired, the material isformed in a stick, cake, etc. and lacquered or otherwise coated.

Example III When it is desired to make a stick with a very soft core wecombine 100 grams of sodium fluoride, or its equivalent, with 26 cc. ofacetone. Thereafter the stick is molded. The outer surface of the stickisthen hardened by dipping the stick in water for two seconds. Then alacquer coat can be applied.

Example IV Five grams of powdered rosin are thoroughly ground in amortar with 5 grams of sodium fluoride. This mixture is thoroughly mixedinto 495 grams of sodium fluoride. The resulting mixture is added to 500cc. of water. The suspension is then, allowed to settle and thesupernatant liquid Fahrenheit.

is poured off until the remaining suspension is thick but fluid enoughto pour. This soup is poured into molds and subjected to a pressure ofsome 500# upwards to 1000# per square inch depending upon the size of astick. It is found de sirable to compress the material in such a manneras to permit the water to escape so that the minimum of moisture wouldbe left in the stick after the stick is pressed. The stick is then bakedat a temperature of approximately 175 degrees If desired, the rosin canbe eliminated.

Fundamentally, our invention is directed to the deposit of the powder byabrasion upon any hard surface by pressing, rubbing and moving the solidmass upon and over the surface to be treated.

The difficulty of the problem has been to confine the application to apredetermined area on the surface, to do so without any specialapparatus such as blowers and the like, to cause it to adhere to bothrough and smooth surfaces, to cause it to be deposited so that it willadhere to the surfaces but at the same time to be in a sufficiently dry,powdered condition to adhere to the tarsi of the roach. It is a furtherproblem to incorporate in the dry material or so handle it is moldingthat it will have sufficient structural strength to maintain the forminto which it is pressed, without interfering with its operation whendeposited. One of the most difllcult problems to solve has been how tohold it in this form over' a considerable period to enable it to beshipped, to give it sufflcient strength, to protect the applicatorshands and at the same time readily permit the material to wear down,when applied, without obstructing the deposit of the powder.

Example V Average Diameter Average Size dry weight cm. length cm. grams0. 9 4. 6 5. O 1. 4 6. 2 14. 9 l. 6 6. 4 21. 7 2. (i. 31.

One of the advantages of this stick is that it need not be worn downflat at the end, but the stick can be held at an angle to the surface towhich it is applied.

The rosin has two functions: it acts as a binder in forming the stickand it acts as an adhering agent for causing the adherence of the powderto the surface, particularly very smooth surfaces, which stillpermitting the deposit to retain its powdered form. Furthermore, itresults in a smooth, hard, dustless outer surface which serves a dualfunction of retaining the stick in its proper form and also protectingthe fingers of the users from the dust out of which this stick iscomposed.

If desired, the material can be colored so as to identify it and toprevent it from contaminating food.

It will be understood that this control isapplicable to various speciesof insects such as ants, silver fish, flrebrats, etc.

Furthermore, materials other than sodium fluoride may be used; e. g.,sodium iiuosilicate, borax,

'boric acid, pyrethrum and various combinations of these and othermaterials such as oils, fatty acids and attractive substances.

It will be understood that we desire to comprehend within our inventionsuch modifications as may be necessary to adapt it to varying conditionsand uses.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is: i

1. As a new article of manufacture, a nonmelting insoluble insectcontrol material consisting substantially completely of poisonoussubstance comprising a molded body of sodium fluoride and water, saidbody having a lacquer coating applied after molding, said lacquercoating forming an inedible, non-poisonous, nonmelting, non-dusting,insoluble film thereon, said molded body having a powdery core and arelatively hard outer surface.

2. The method of manufacturing a non-melting insoluble insect controlbody consisting substantially completely of poisonous materialcomprising molding a mixture comprising 100 parts by weight of sodiumfluoride, 1 part by weight of powdered rosin and 26 parts by weight ofwater, and baking the molded mixture at substantially 174 F. to form amolded body with a dustless, inedible, non-melting, poisonous retainingsurface, said surface being relatively hard as compared with the core ofsaid molded body.

3. The method of manufacturing a molded non-melting insoluble insectcontrol material consisting substantially completely of poisonousmaterial and having a powdery core and a relatively hard outer surfacewhich comprises mixing substantially 100 parts by weight of sodiumfluoride and substantially 26 parts by weight of water, molding themixture, drying the molded material, and then coating it with a liquidcomposition adapted to form an inedible, non-poisonous, non-melting,non-dusting insoluble film thereon.

4. The method of manufacturing a molded insect control materialconsisting substantially completely of poisonous material and having apowdery core and a relatively hard outer surface according to claim 3 inwhich the liquid coating composition consists of substantially 8% solidsconsisting of nitrocellulose 56.25%, dibutyl phthalate 16.25% and estergum 27.50% and substantially 82% volatile liquid consisting of ethylacetate 30%, toluol butyl acetate 8% and 6. The method of manufacturinga molded non-melting insoluble insect control material consistingsubstantially completely of poisonous material and 'havinga powdery coreand arelatively hard outer surface which comprises grinding together 5parts by weight -of rosin and 5 parts by weight of sodium fluoride,adding to said grind 495 parts by weight of sodium fluoride and 500parts by weight of water to form a suspension,-

allowing said suspension to settle, removing the supernatant liquidleaving a. thickened slurry or soup, pouring said "soup into a mold andsubjecting it to a. pressure of from 750 to 1000 pounds per square inchwhile permitting excess water to flow out of the mold, removing themolded material from the mold, and baking it at substantially 175degrees F., whereby a molded article is produced having a hardnon-dusting, nonmelting and insoluble outer surface and a comparativelysoft core.

HAROLD E. JENNINGS. JOHN M. HUTZEL.

